I am new to golf and was wondering how I can find out my handicap?

Question

can anyone describe how I can calculate my golf handicap?

Answer 1

A USGA handicap is a rather complicated computation. It attempts to calculate what your "potential" score should be at specific courses which have been rated for difficulty. They use your past scores as input.

You can read the details at

http://www.pgaprofessional.com/handicap.html

Some clubs and leagues use a simplified version for themselves. Try this:

. Go over your scorecards and replace any hole scores larger than Triple Bogey with Triple Bogey. (if you got a 10 on a par 4, replace it with 7.) You do not get extra credit for "blow up" holes.

. Now add up these "adjusted" scores, and take the Average of the Adjusted Scores. (If your adjusted scores were 100, 123, 118, 99 and 106, the average is 109.2.)

. Throw out any decimals, then subtract 72 (representing Par). 109-72=37 Your informal handicap would be 37.

In a match, they would subtract 37 from your gross score, and would do this for each player's handicap. This gives "Net" scores. The person with the lowest Net score wins!

This is not the same number as the USGA handicap, but it's reasonably close. Lots of people use something like this. Sometimes they make it harder by using Bogey or Double Bogey as the maximum adjusted score on a hole. Some make it harder by only giving 80 to 90% of the informal handicap.

Have Fun!

Answer 2

In order to find out what your handicap is, take your best 10 recent scores, add all together and divide by 10 to get your average. Then look at your clubs score card to find out what the course rating is, generally lower than the actual par for the course. Take your average score and subtract the course rating, then you have your handicap. If your average is 78 and the course is rated @ 70, you would be an 8 handicap. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

when you join a club they will work it out other wise:

play 3 rounds of golf - record your scores.

use these scores to give you an average.

for example a mid to high handicapper would be,
1= 101
2= 95
3= 100

which for a par 72 course is roughly 28 - 24 handicap!

if you average a boggy a hole then you will be an 18 handicap.

Hope this helps,
Nick

Answer 4

I can't help you with that, but I can tell you what I know about golf. After playing for a few years you'll have a mental handicap. Golf to me is one of the most stressful things I have ever tried to do.

Answer 5

36 is the max handicap guys.

Answer 6

You have to join a club, then have the pro sign off on x number of games, then its calculated. if you have only just started it will be at -28